It has been almost three months since I started serving as a CorpsAfrica Volunteer in Kasungu District in the central region of Malawi. How time flies because it just feels like yesterday when I started my volunteering service. It has been an awesome journey but with challenges but let me talk about how my journey started before joining CorpsAfrica as a Volunteer.​I remember quite well it was on 8 July in 2018 when I came across a CorpsAfrica post on its official Facebook page. The post was about calling upon ambitious young men and women to serve as CorpsAfrica Volunteers. I was so excited when I saw this post since it was my passion to serve as a Volunteer with CorpsAfrica. Around 9 in the evening I submitted my application. After about three weeks I received a phone call from CorpsAfrica office calling me for the interviews at their office in Lilongwe. I was excited and at the same time I was afraid. I asked myself, “what if I am not going to pass the interview?” I started preparing for the interviews by practicing common interview questions and did some research on the internet about CorpsAfrica.

At my site in Wimbe, Kasungu District

I went to the interview with confidence and well prepared. I answered all the questions with confidence and went back home and waited for results. After three months I received an email from CorpsAfrica congratulating me for passing the interview. I was so excited and filled with joy after receiving the email since my wishes were fulfilled. My family members were also happy for me, since they knew how much I wanted to serve as a CorpsAfrica Volunteer. A week after receiving this email I received another one informing me about the Pre-Service Training. I went to the training where I met my fellow ambitious young men and women. It was a one-month intensive training, two weeks at the CorpsAfrica office and the remaining two weeks at Dedza College of Forestry.​After the training I went back home and waited for the training results. Lucky enough I received an email informing me that I have passed the training. The following week it was a Swearing-In Ceremony at Crossroads hotel. It was a beautiful ceremony and I was very happy since I was officially a CorpsAfrica Volunteer. Three days later, I packed my stuff and went to my designated site in Kasungu District.

Cervical cancer is the most common cancer in the women in Malawi and is one of the major concerns for the Ministry of Health as well as the public as a whole. Every year, over 2,300 Malawian women develop cervical cancer and over 1,600 die from the disease. It is estimated that, if nothing is done, the number of cervical cancer cases and deaths will increase by over 60% to 3,800 cases, and approximately 2,600 deaths per year by the year 2025. These are the words of the Secretary for Health in The Ministry of Health.​Cervical cancer is really a burden to individuals, families, communities and the whole nation, and we ought not to be silent about it. In response to the request of some community members to sensitize them about this serious disease, I held a talk on cervical cancer.

Some of the men who were present at the meeting

The message was simple and threefold. Firstly, though cervical cancer is very dangerous, it is also very preventable. Secondly, though cervical cancer is a disease that affects women, the fight against it is not only for women. Lastly, the fight against cervical cancer is communal so let us all encourage cervical cancer screening.

I am at the middle of my service. Reflecting back, I see there are some areas that have made me excel and also, areas I needed to improve. Unfortunately, I cannot reverse time but I can advise the next cohorts.

Community members brainstorming during one of the trainings I facilitated.

1) Have a 'people first' attitude: Before your deployment, make sure you have a "people first" attitude. You will possibly learn more about this during the Pre-Service Training (PST) but basically it means to let community members be the "bosses." They should be the key decision-makers; let them have the steering wheel. In communities, there are people who are capable of leading development, with the required leadership skills and sometimes the technical know-how. You are not going to the community to bring change to people who are clueless and blank. You are going there to support them as they bring change by themselves. As said by Cormac Russell in one of his TED talks entitled, “From what’s wrong to what’s strong," quoting a Harvard academician; “when we (the outsiders) try to bring change to the communities, they experience it as violence but when they (the communities) bring change by themselves, they experience it as liberation."

A community member facilitating the leadership training.

2) No micro-management Remember, in your community, you are the Manager of yourself. There is no office to report to by 7:30, no one to tell you that you are late and generally, no one to micro-manage you. This arrangement is for your own good so you can become a responsible community worker. Therefore, learn to be responsible because with all the freedom, if you cannot be responsible you will most certainly fail. When you call for a meeting, make sure you are punctual, giving the community members the impression that you mean business when it comes to time. I can assure you, when community members see the value that those meetings will bring in their lives, you will see them being punctual. Don’t forget to take notes, make schedules, prioritize and communicate.

Teaching at Kalowa Secondary School

3) Change is not easy, but it is worthy it: There are several changes that take place upon you being deployed. You will need to adjust your living style as you meet new faces, get into a different weather and possibly start to eat and drink different kinds of food and water. Amidst all this, be sure to try to learn their language, at least the greetings and other commonly used terminologies. This goes a long way in your community integration. As you adjust, have the end in mind because what matters after everything is the smile you will leave on the faces of the community members after your service. Have fun!!!

Gulewamkulu (the big dance) is a popular cultural dance one cannot miss among the Chewa in the Central region of Malawi. Since I was born and raised in the Northern Region of Malawi, I never had a positive attitude towards Gulewamkulu, until I witnessed it in my community. This is the danger of a single story. In the city of Lilongwe, I used to meet Gulewamkulu gang with machetes in their hand, dressed in a very funny way and, my brother would always advise me to run away because he said I risk getting robbed or even stabbed. He used to tell me that Gulewamkulu guys are wild animals and they do not care about someone’s life hence my instinct to fear them and run for life whenever I saw them.

When I reached my site, I felt nervous. Why? I had arrived in a new community which practices Gulewamkulu. This being my home for the next 6 months worried me. However, I have never seen Gulewamkulu walking around my community as I used to see in the city, and this gave me a lot of questions because I was expecting Gulewamkulu to be everywhere since it is a typical village where culture is expected to be preserved. From these questions I have been interested to find out more about Gulewamkulu. And, I have learned three unique reasons for Gulewamkulu that I never knew.

To begin with, Gulewamkulu is performed during traditional leader’s inauguration. These peculiarly dressed creatures entertain the masses with different dancing styles, and people give them small amounts of money.

Secondly, Gulewamkulu is practiced during funerals of loved ones. The family of the deceased are the ones to decide whether Gulewamkulu should be performed or not. In this scenario, where Gulewamkulu is allowed, no church activities are allowed. This is so because Gulewamkulu is also regarded as a religion on its own.

Last but not least, Gulewamkulu is performed during political rallies to portray their culture while at the same time entertaining the masses.

Too often we focus on a single story, excluding cultural influences, and other perspectives from different experiences. This single story is limiting and make us misinterpret people, their background and their lives. It can lead to judgement, disconnection and conflict. As a CorpsAfrica Volunteer I have learned that full integration is very important to understand the world around us—for I have learned that Gulewamkulu is not wild animals, it is a friendly cultural ceremony. Therefore, from this experience I admit that our lives and our culture are composed of many overlapping stories.

On my way to watch Gulewamkulu, due to mud I had to take off my shoes.

Here we are in Mzimba, Thoza! I should be honest with you; I did not like the idea of coming to Mzimba. During training, we were given an opportunity to choose where we would like to be placed. So I was like, "yes! This is the moment I had waited for." Excitedly, I opted for Kasungu, Mchinji and Lilongwe. However, my coordinator, cautioned “don’t get too excited, this does not necessarily mean you will only be placed where you have chosen, we may make changes you see?” Well, despite the warning; that inner voice in me still said, "she is just kidding, you will go to one of those areas of your choice." If only I had known.

I remember bragging to my friends how excited we would be, if they should place each of us in our respective areas of choice. We happily anticipated the day they would reveal our destinations until "Boom!" it finally dawned upon us. The announcement was made, and for me it was a resounding “Mzimba!” And it was like a nightmare happening in broad daylight. You can imagine how disappointed I was. You might be wondering what made this disappointment scale from 0 scales to 90. Well, I thought about the language itself, though I knew how to speak Tumbuka, but I wasn’t that fluent in it. “How am I going to make stories in Tumbuka?" I asked myself. “What about the people? Will they welcome me warmly? Where will I be sleeping and with whom? What about the food there? Am I going to manage an abrupt switch from my favourite dishes to their local delicacies? Several other inconsistent and, many times, unreasonable questions raced through my mind at the thought of going to Mzimba of all places.

To my surprise, the first day I reached my host family everyone there was evidently so excited to have me. I could even hear them comparing me to the last volunteer. One woman said “huh! Banthu aba mbamoza na, bakughanana baka namyankhe yula”(these people are just the same, this new one resembles with the other one who has since left." This quickly made me gather up a big smile within me and I secretly laughed while slowly assuring myself "I am already home after all." They greeted me and told me to feel free around them as I was at home away from home.

Home indeed I quickly found it to be. They gave me my own bungalow just right next to theirs. They cooked me Nsima with beans which turned out to be one of my favorite meals. Well I was not alone, these people made sure that I did not lack anything. They went out of their way to cater even for my personal and emotional needs. They always come to my house to greet me and make sure I am fine. With the passage of time we have become more like one family. I go to their house and eat freely, of course, on the other hand, they also come to my house and ask for anything, which if I have I will always give them.

I remember, their daughter jokingly (but seriously) putting it bluntly to me one day, “I don’t know what I will do when you leave this place, I will greatly miss you." Hearing this from her made and still makes me sad, as I should indeed soon be leaving this place, and I know I will ever greatly appreciate and miss the kindness these people have so far shown me. Their warmth, support, and kindness are a gift I never expected to receive. I now constantly find I would have to forgive myself a thousand times for the wrong presumptions I once had about Mzimba because, contrary to my wild suppositions, I am not homesick in any way perceivable; I have a home I never expected I would have here.

​When I look back and reflect on the time I have spent with the children at Tsalani Primary School, I don’t regret the decision to volunteer to teach. Not only did it help me to integrate but it has also brought joy in the good moments I share with the children both inside and outside of the classroom. Whenever I take a walk in the community, the kids always greet me with smiling faces and I never get tired of greeting them back.

Nevertheless, something has been happening that makes me sad. In the past two months, there have been 2 or 3 children daily returning home from school because they have fallen sick. I tried to find out possible risks to sickness at the school. That’s when I observed that most of them don’t wash hands after visiting the toilet. This also meant some might even eat porridge provided at the school without washing hands, which is bad for their health.

Luckily enough, I had a new skill I learned from my fellow volunteers at PST; making hand washing facilities from locally found resources. I imagined this will not only be beneficial in the sense that it would help to reduce cases of sickness, but it would also be a great time to bond and have fun with my pupils.

So, I offered my suggestion to make the facilities available to the children. It came with a lesson on personal hygiene, and it turns out most of them were quite aware of what they have to do each time they visit the toilet. The challenge, however, was that the borehole is some minutes away from the school. Due to the distance, the children would rather just go straight to class than go through washing their hands.

The children were excited about the idea and volunteered to find the resources. We then had a good time making the hand washing facility, and now the children are happy that they clean their hands after visiting the toilet. Some of them loved the facility so much that they will make them at their homes together with their parents.

It was around midnight when I heard my host mother knocking at my bedroom window with panic. I knew something was wrong, so we (with my host sisters) run to open the door.“The wall of my house is about to fall and there is water everywhere in the house, I can't sleep.” she explained.​It had been raining continuously for the past two days and according to the weather forecast, we still had two or more days of these rains.

“I think my house is going to fall, the wall is very wet that if heavy wind blows again, that will be the end of it. How will I even manage to build my house again?” She murmured and took a deep sigh.There was silence for a few seconds. We really wanted our Mother to calm down, but what kind of words would calm a woman who was about to lose her only house?

“Your house is not going to fall,” I didn't know what to say next, so I stopped to swallow some "wisdom" saliva and continued. “You know, we have to be grateful that you woke up before it got worse. Now what we need to do is figure out how to control the wall from falling.” I convinced myself that I somehow encouraged her.

My host sister suggested that if we covered it with a thick plastic paper, it would prevent the rain from hitting the wall, which will prevent the wall from getting more wet, eventually not falling.But it was now getting to 2 am, and there was no way we were going to buy a thick plastic paper at that hour.

As we were about to go inside my house, my host sister thought of checking the walls if everything was okay. Boom! My sitting room wall had a crack. I panicked! There was no way I was going to sleep in a house that is showing the "I’m about to fall" signs.

My host mother tried to encourage me with words similar to what I had said to her, but at this time I didn’t consider her as a mother encouraging a child, but as a landlord convincing a tenant. So her words didn't perform the magic. But I had no choice.

So there we were, all of us in my bedroom. Scared of what will happen next but sharing stories and laughing to bottle up our fear.

As I went through this experience it reminded me of the very reason as to why I am here. To not only facilitate change, but become part of the community, understand their challenges as I experience each and every day with them.

As I read reports online about how much the rains have affected most of the rural areas, what I felt was more than just sympathy. I didn't just feel sorry for the victims and I wasn’t just trying to put myself in their shoes, but, I was in their shoes. I might have not felt exactly what thepeople usually feel when heavy rains have destroyed their properties, but I can tell you what it feels like to be in that situation. To me, that's a life-changing experience.

#ThisIsCorpsAfrica. We are not only about bringing solutions, but also immersing ourselves in rural communities, experiencing and living life together with our communities.

As powerful as the quote sounds, it still has a story to tell. December, the month I arrived at my site I had mixed feelings as to how was I to integrate and be part of this beautiful, warm village. Little did I know that I was one of those people in the village they had been waiting for. Three months down the line I bear this testimony. When I arrived at a community day secondary school where I am teaching Life Skills as part of my community service, I never had in mind that I would introduce a computer club and that learners would have keen interest in this new development.

However, upon liaising with member of staff and the Head teacher, they welcomed the idea and it did not take long for me to introduce the idea to the students. The students were so excited and overwhelmed, as some did not even know how a computer looks. During one of our sessions one of the students asked me; “madam how does this computer we are talking about look?” I did not know where to start from explaining or illustrating as some members mocked and laughed. Another one asked again; madam, you want to tell us that we are going to learn how to type? There I stood speechless. These are some out of the many questions I have come across from the day the computer club was introduced.

Interestingly, each session we meet (once a week) is worth it. The number of students attending keeps on increasing almost each meeting session. During one of my individual conversations with the village head, I was astonished as she asked with curiosity, "I hear you have introduced a computer club at the community day secondary school." It caught my attention as I just smiled and proceeded asking her about the intention for the visit. "We have really been waiting for this development for our children," she concluded.

It has been a nice experience at how one can serve passionately and reach out to people in a way one never thought about. We are living in an era whereby technology is the order of the day with the coming of different social sites, including education sites, making learning more exciting. Despite this being the case, we still have some areas where people have little knowledge of how quickly this technology is trending. This is a life-changing experience, and I am glad that I am part of this, "the people they have been waiting for."

It's been 2 months and some weeks since I have been here. In my opinion I will say I have integrated pretty well; the host family considers me as one of them. How do I know? They called me when one of the family members felt sick, and they even asked me to name a baby that was born in the family. So we have a Michael named by me. I must say I felt honoured and had that sense of belonging; we all crave for that wherever we go. Honest truth. I have many friends and they are increasing every day.

That aside. The question: what have you been doing in these two months? I had been having meetings with the community. We had come up with a goat pass project to address the financial struggles of the community. Everyone was excited about it, including me. Why? Because I felt like I will do something that I had worked together on with the community. We started working on that, reached a stage of writing a proposal, and my coordinator was then updated.

She advised that according to the past projects that other volunteers have done concerning animal husbandry, there has been no impact. So it would really be good to drop that project and do another that will address the same financial problem.

So I want you to imagine this: here I have a community that is excited that we are doing a goat pass on project and I am supposed to go back and tell them that we should drop it. How did that feel? Fire—I was tensed. I had to spend a day thinking how I will relay this message. When I had built courage I went to my Counterpart and explained the whole situation, and he accepted it. He suggested that we tell the Group Village Head as well. We went to his house and told him the situation. He was like, "It is good that way. This kind of project never succeeded in the past. A person was receiving 5 goats but they all died leaving just 3 out of 53. It was supposed to be a pass-on project as well. So yes, we are witnesses to such projects not having changed our lives".

So I sat there thinking, "Goodness! I was just stressed over nothing? You knew that this kind of project never succeeded and you are saying this now?"

What I have learnt in all this, I shouldn't have been quick to start building something just for the sake of doing something. I should have taken my time. I would have learnt sooner that this of kind of project never succeeded in the community, and I would have saved myself from all this trouble. I have learnt my lesson to be patient.

Whoever said "Mondays" are boring did not live in all corners of Malawi, especially some parts of Mzimba District. Here in my community, which is located in the southern part of Mzimba, Monday is always an exciting day of the week because it's Bwandilo (Market day) at the most famous trading center known as Embangweni, which is just 40 minutes cycling from my site. To cut the story short, we always have Christmas every week. Some of the interesting things about Bwandilo are:

CHEAP FOODWhile the rest of the world hates Mondays, it's actually loved by my community and other areas around Mzimba south because it's when we get cheap food items such as, Tomatoes, Fish, Meat, Rice and all other farm produce. This is the day I usually go to buy food especially bonya (small fish). A 5-liter container of bonya goes at K2 500 (US$3.4), so what does a bachelor have to do to survive? Meat is even cheaper on this side as you know it's a Ngoni (local tribe) territory and they value meat a lot.

CHEAP CLOTHESNot only do we find cheap food on the Market day, but we also find clothes. Clothes are also very cheap on this day and some are even sold on auction. Imagine getting a nice Jacket at K300, a shirt at K150 and even trousers at below K500. What other day would you ask for?

SOCIAL DAY FOR THE YOUTHThis is also one of the day young people cherish the most as they look forward to looking nice and hanging out with friends at the market center. It reminds me of my college days when we used to have social weekends; making sure to spare some nice clothes to put on this day to impress the ladies, do you relate? If yes, this is how the day looks like here. I strongly believe that most crushes are born on this day because all the boys and girls look extra-adorable.

If you visit this place on Monday, you would think there is a social weekend or social engagement activity taking place. You would tell simply by looking at how congested the traffic gets. That's how and where I spend most of my Mondays: at Embangweni trading center. Mondays are mostly like half holidays to us, and you know how Monday holidays feel.

With a Peace Corps Volunteer, a Chipoka 2 teacher and some of the community’s youthful girls.

Written by CorpsAfrica/Malawi Volunteer Ms. Alinafe Chikombole

“It is the friends we make along the way that help us appreciate the journey!”

Going into my second month of volunteering I have learnt to appreciate the social connections I have made this far. It can be hard to admit that you are feeling lonely away from what are your ordinary, family and friends. But what do you do? Well, I decided to make as many friends as possible. Therefore, I also have a lot more learning opportunities. While my old friends are always cheering me on and supporting me on the sidelines, it is not the same as having people in close proximity that you share common interests with, being able to share some of the smallest details of your day with.

Undeniably, friendships are important; they give you a reason to smile yet again. In my case I find that my new friends have helped me to relieve stress when I felt like things were not going according to plan. They have made me laugh to tears even when I thought I could not laugh. They have also taken it upon themselves to make sure am well fed all day so that I do not complain about being hungry.

The early morning knocks have become a trend I look forward to. If and when I do not get a knock in the morning it worries me thinking what has happened to one of my friends. I take every chance I have to make a new friend. These are the people that make my experience even more worthwhile; they are not only my one-minute friends, but my friends for life. Friends for life because they have taught me some of the most valuable life lessons; going back into my normal I will carry with me some of these lessons.

Left right and center I have made connections amidst the community with diverse people of various age ranges, from old to young, my work mates and even people I meet just once in a while.​“Happiness is when you make unexpected new friends.”

Having a conversation with a community member

Sitting amongst the older women and chatting while waiting for a community meeting